China's icebreaker Xuelong docks at an ice covered area in the Antarctic during a 2014 expedition. [Photo/Sina Weibo] China's first home-built polar research vessel and ice breaker has been named Xuelong 2, or Snow Dragon 2, according to a report of Science and Technology Daily on Tuesday. The construction of the ship, jointly designed by China State Shipbuilding Corporation and Finland-based Aker Arctic Technology, was launched by Jiangnan Shipyard (Group) in December. The new vessel will be 122.5 meters long and be able to break through 1.5-meter thick ice at a maximum speed of 3 knots, said the Polar Research Institute of China. Xuelong 2 is scheduled to be completed in 2019, when it will team up with the country's currently only icebreaker Xuelong to form a polar research fleet, conducting scientific research missions and supplying resources to polar regions. Xuelong, the country's first icebreaker, was built in Ukraine and put into service in 1994. China first sent an expedition team to the Antarctic in 1984. Since then, the country has established four scientific research stations in the Antarctic. motivational bracelets for athletesslap wristbandschildren's id wristbands ukuv bracelet24 hour wristbands
WELLINGTON - An Ilyushin IL-76 aircraft from China will land at Royal New Zealand Air Force Base in Auckland on Saturday to take part in Exercise Skytrain18, with the New Zealand Defense Force (NZDF), the Chinese embassy said here on Wednesday.The IL-76, from the People's Liberation Army Air Force, is to take part in training with a detachment from 40 Squadron, Royal New Zealand Air Force in humanitarian aid and disaster relief support and in search and rescue operations, a statement from the Chinese embassy said.The Ilyushin IL-76 is a Russian-made, medium range, multi-purpose military transport aircraft powered by four jet engines.Exercise of this kind has been conducted when the NZDF was involved in the search for the missing airliner MH370 in the Indian Ocean, of which the Chinese air force was also involved, said the statement.
